Taking a Look at Beauty and Cosmetics

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. Definition of Beauty

III. History of Cosmetics

IV. Motives and Methods

V. Viewpoints

VI. Biblical Examples of Beauty

VII. Explicit Texts

VIII. General Principles

IX. Three Arenas of Decisions

i. Individual and Family ii. Church iii. Society

X. Conclusion

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, what is Beauty after all:

Christianity & Cosmetics

A gorgeous, godly young woman, leaving her car, with the church sticker on the back, walks into the hair salon. From her appearance, she does not seem to be new to this area. She headed for a specific salon area and sat her purse down. The 25-year-old Christian woman was a beautician or cosmetologist. Her income was accrued by providing beauty treatments. C.S. Lewis once said, “The sweetest thing in all of my life has been the longing…to find the place where all the beauty came from” (Fields, 2011). Lewis was not and is not alone in this search for beauty. The difference, however, is that while many people both male and female seek to find beauty, Lewis sought to find its source.

Beauty Defined

Anthony Synnott (1990), in his article, said, “beauty is many things to may people” (p. 68). With this statement, it is assumed that Synnott meant all beauty is subjective and relative. There are many definitions of beauty involving or being limited to the physical, moral and spiritual realms. Within Bethany Nelson’s article, Leaving Beauty Behind, Kristen Patrow compiled three definitions for beauty—one as a verb, another as a noun and the final as an adjective. Each definition is rooted within a Christian worldview. Beauty as a verb refers to “the act of pursuing God” while the noun is an attitude “valued by God…inwardly cultivated” (p. 5) Beauty as an adjective refe...

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...opposing pageants. Its purpose was to show that “beautification was unnecessary, time-consuming, expensive, unhealthy, ecologically disastrous, degrading, inauthentic and ultimately futile and contributing to self-hatred” (p. 66).

The fourth and final viewpoint of beauty identified by Synnott (1990) is the animal rights argument. The people supporting this viewpoint focus primarily on the inhumaneness given to animals used in the testing phase of cosmetic research. This viewpoint is opposing to cosmetics for the sole reason that animals are harmed. Members of the Animal Liberation Movement have managed to improve some cosmetic testing, but failed in opposing cosmetics as a whole. Synnott concluded that “all four critiques of the beauty mystique…persist at the same time, although often in different populations and with different impacts on popular culture” (p. 68).